


None Better

by svana_vrika



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Canon, Childhood Friends, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Stargazing, Tanabata, Tokyo (City)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28092957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/svana_vrika/pseuds/svana_vrika
Summary: Asahi thinks Kisumi is beautiful, especially beneath the Tanabata sky.
Relationships: Shigino Kisumi/Shiina Asahi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13
Collections: 2020 AsaKisu Charity 'zine Project: First of Many





	None Better

**Author's Note:**

> One of the two pieces I did for the 2020 AsaKisu charity 'zine, _First of Many_ Many talented authors and artists participated on behalf of the MATW-Project for orphan housing, and I was proud to serve as a moderator and contributor!

_Beautiful._

The word floats through Asahi’s mind, gentle warmth on a wistful current, drawing the corners of his lips up, leaving a soft longing in its wake. The permanent dust of color across his cheeks briefly deepens, but it’s really his only reaction. The thought, the feelings, are as familiar to him as the boy that elicits them. And under the setting sun of a summer’s sky, well.

Asahi doesn’t think he’s seen Kisumi look more beautiful than he does tonight. 

Then again, it isn’t the first time Asahi’s had that thought, and he lightly snorts, a soft laugh at himself as, from across the lawn, he watches Kisumi toss his head back in laughter over whatever his clubmate had said. He has it so, _so_ badly. Has since they were boys when all he’d been able to do was bluster over the feelings he hadn’t understood until years after they’d said goodbye.

Not that he really has any better idea what to do with them now. 

Asahi rolls his eyes at himself. Alright. That isn’t _exactly_ true. He’s thought about it a lot, how he might confess his feelings for his best friend. What might happen. And, for all of his fallibilities, he isn’t _completely_ clueless. Thanks to Akane, anyway, he begrudgingly admits. He’d not even _thought_ about it being Tanabata until his sister had teasingly pointed it out when he’d shared his plans for the night. But once she had, he’d not been able to stop thinking about it. Kisumi had never asked him, alone, to one of his club functions before. That he’d chosen tonight, the night that the fated lovers finally meet, has to mean _something._ Right?

“Shiina, ne?”

Asahi looks up at the friendly call, returns the smile with one of his own and nods. “Yeah.”

The guy’s smile widens. “Thought so.” He sits down beside Asahi, a comfortable distance away. “Imada,” he introduces, and then, “Good to meet you, finally. I know we’ve been looking forward to it.” 

Asahi’s brows arch in surprise, and then he laughs a bit. “You make it sound like you knew I was coming.”

“Nah. Not really.” Imada grins when Asahi cocks his head in confusion. “We all pretty much figured you’d be who Shigino brought along tonight, though.”

Asahi feels a flip in his gut that leaves a heat in his cheeks. “Why’s that?” he asks, trying for nonchalant, but a slight stutter ruins the attempt.

“C’mon, man,” Imada says with a light laugh. “Like it’d be anyone else. The only time Shigino ever cuts club is for your meets and study dates.”

“I’m not the only friend he does those things with,” Asahi protests, a blurted reaction to the warmth that wicks through him, it no longer content to remain in his face. 

“No,” Imada agrees. “There’s the other swimmer… uh…”

“Nanase,” Asahi supplies, and Imada nods.

“Right. And the guy from Meijou Chuo. But it’s just different when he talks about you.” Imada grins again. “I mean, out of the three of you, you’re the only one I knew by sight and name; that should tell you _something,”_ he gives with a nudge before getting up and going over to rejoin the others.

Asahi blinks at the sudden departure and then finds Kisumi in the crowd again. This time, their eyes meet and hold, and it feels completely different than it ever has before. After a moment, Kisumi breaks it with a slow blink and turn of his head that sends a shiver of anticipation through Asahi’s stomach. He stands and crosses over to him, drawn like a moth to a flame.

The sun dips a bit lower and, as a group, the club and their partners leave the house, couples walking side by side, some hand in hand as they go the few blocks to the local park to write their wishes. Asahi doesn’t have to think hard about his. He’s moving toward everything he could possibly want, in university, on the team, with Kisumi. One simple word will take care of all three: _success._

There isn’t a river, so everyone makes their way through the crowd to hang their tanzaku on the designated tree instead. From there, the different couples disburse, some to watch the fireworks, some to try and find a place to see the stars. Asahi turns to Kisumi to ask what he wants; finds him looking at him as he’d been earlier. That warmth rushes through him again, staining his cheeks with enough of it to leave Kisumi’s a delicate pink of recognition. “Uh,” he begins unintelligently, and then, “Oi, don’t laugh at me,” he grouses when Kisumi can’t quite stop a laugh from spilling past his lips.

“Sorry, sorry,” Kisumi apologizes, though his lips remain curved up. “You were saying?”

And suddenly, Asahi doesn’t know why he’s been so nervous. It’s just Kisumi; pain in his ass, best friend, love of his life. “C’mon,” he says, snagging Kisumi’s hand. “Let’s find a place to sit and watch the fireworks.”

“Mm.” Kisumi willingly lets Asahi pull him along. It’s easy. Natural. And when Kisumi shifts his hold to thread their fingers together, the shiver that pushes through Asahi’s gut makes him want to laugh for how happy he is, so he does, casting his easy-going grin over his shoulder at his friend.

There really aren’t any secluded spots; it seems the whole neighborhood has turned out. But they find one that’s private enough; there’s a small copse of trees behind them and only a handful of other couples are scattered about this particular square of lawn. Kisumi slips his hand free so that he can sit down and, as he draws his knees up to rest his arms on them, Asahi settles beside him. He can feel Kisumi’s warmth, smell the subtle scent of his cologne, and he swallows softly as those earlier feelings come back to him. Not nerves, he realizes now, but want. Anticipation. Excitement for what’s to come. And he shifts his hand to take Kisumi’s closest, twines their fingers together again as he brings them to rest on the scant bit of grass between them. He glances at Kisumi from the corner of his eyes, sees the pretty pink in his cheek again; feels his elevated pulse when he lightly brushes a thumb across Kisumi’s wrist. He smiles again and tips his head to the sky, happy that Kisumi is feeling the same as him.

They really can’t see the stars yet, but Asahi knows they’re up there, somewhere. The two lovers, waiting to meet after so much time apart, and his hand tightens slightly through Kisumi’s.

“What’re you thinking about?” Kisumi asks softly, and Asahi colors a bit.

“The Tanabata story. It’s kinda sad in a way.”

“Mm. It is, but happy, too.” Asahi glances over at Kisumi, who’s now looking at the sky like he’d been. “They do meet again.”

“Yeah, but then they lose each other again. That’s what I mean.”

Kisumi’s lips curve up slightly, gaze never wavering. “Their fates are intertwined, Asahi. Nothing can keep them apart. They’ll always come back to each other.”

And in that moment, Asahi realizes that he’d been wrong earlier. Kisumi’s never looked more beautiful than he does _now_ , nestled in the grass, the pinks and blues of the last bit of sunset as his backdrop. “Yeah,” he breathes after moistening his lips, his eyes dropping to Kisumi’s. “Like we did.”

Kisumi’s smile widens slightly. “Mm,” he agrees, turning his head to seek Asahi’s gaze, and Asahi can’t wait any longer. He leans in, tilting his head toward Kisumi’s mouth. Surprise flickers through Kisumi’s eyes, but he doesn’t pull away or deflect him, so Asahi follows through and closes that last bit of distance, his eyes falling shut as he feels the touch of Kisumi’s lips against his. Kisumi shifts toward him, angles his head in turn, and their mouths come more naturally together, a soft brush, a slight parting, and then another gentle press. With it, Asahi slips his hand from Kisumi’s to bring it up and lightly tuck his fingers into the soft wafts of Kisumi’s hair.

Kisumi leans into Asahi’s palm, the movement breaking them apart again. Asahi opens his eyes slightly, finds Kisumi has done the same, a glimmer of purple beneath long lashes. Kisumi shifts again, slim fingers resting coolly against Asahi’s heated cheek as he captures Asahi’s upper lip between his own. Fingers tightening through Kisumi’s hair, Asahi closes his lips around Kisumi’s lower in turn; they meet again, and then a third time, before breaking away completely, breaths mingling between them as they lightly rest their foreheads against each other’s. “Our story’s better though,” Asahi murmurs lowly, thumb lightly caressing Kisumi’s cheek. “’cause you and me, we don’t have to part again.” 

“Asahi. So romantic,” he lightly teases; Asahi’s cheeks heat again and he goes to pull back, but Kisumi’s hand quickly shifts to cup the back of his neck and keep him there. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it, you know,” he gently chides, “But then you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t bluster a _little_ bit.”

Asahi huffs a laugh. “And you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t tease. You’ve always been a damnable one.”

“Quite the pair we make.”

“Ah.” And Asahi kisses Kisumi again, because he wants to, because he _can_ , and when he pulls away, he shifts just enough to tuck his arm around Kisumi, draw him into his side as the sunset fades completely and the first bloom of color lights the darkened sky. “There isn’t any better.”


End file.
